'Not for public': the oil spill may be getting much worse

[82_28]

So why hasn't the US Army Corp of Engineers not been deployed yet? I mean, seriously. They can build and maintain our dams and other exotic infrastructure. BP et al needs to be seized last month -- completely put out of business with one swift, instantaneous stroke. Just like the US govt was able to put Iraq out of the being a country business with one act of "shock and awe". Remember how easy that was?

Jesus fucking Christ.

[82_28]

This brings up another issue. When the SHTF (shit hit the fan moment) scenario comes, and starvation and societal breakdown occurs, I thought I had a reliable source for food supply. Here, we would crash and burn, but would never go hungary as there are lots of things to eat, and lots of delicious ways in which to prepare it. I could live on shrimp alone. I guess I need to start storing food now.

Now for some comedic relief!

[2012 Countdown]

Doh...I saw that after i posted...not going to edit now as it would ruin your joke.
Good one.

[seemslikeadream]

Ex-Sen. Graham to co-chair Obama's oil spill panel
WASHINGTON
Fri May 21, 2010 7:13pm EDT

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama is naming former Senator Bob Graham and former Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly to co-chair a bipartisan commission to investigate the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a White House official said.

Obama is appointing the two men to lead a panel patterned after past commissions that have probed incidents such as the 1986 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

[2012 Countdown]

Cosner to the Rescue?



Kevin Costner's Machine Heads to BP's Oil Spill Clean Up
Costner has been funding a team of scientists for 15 years in hopes of developing a technology to clean up massive oil spills, and his research has created a powerful centrifuge that he claims can separate oil from water and dump the oil into a holding tank.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/kevin- ... d=10689928

-----

Oh and about those TOXIC dispersants BP was 'asked' (no really, fucking asked) to stop using?
BP still using Nalco's Corexit on Gulf oil spill
Nalco's Corexit brand of dispersant is an EPA preapproved, effective, low-toxicity dispersant that is readily available "and we continue to use it," Dean said.
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=382521

======

So...banned in England due to its poisonous nature, too bad. BP says FUCK YOU we do what we want!

[Jeff]

EPA May Not Force BP to Change Dispersants

A day after the Environmental Protection Agency gave BP 72 hours to start using a "less toxic" dispersant to help control the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the agency told ABC News today it may allow BP to keep using the same chemicals.

The EPA on Thursday gave BP 24 hours to find a better dispersant and 72 hours to begin using it.

The EPA said testing had determined that the use of the dispersant Corexit had killed up to 25 percent of all organisms living at 500 feet below the surface in areas where the dispersant was used. A top BP executive defended the use of Corexit on "Good Morning America" today.

"The EPA had to approve and the Unified Command and the Coast Guard had to approve the use of that product. It is approved and in fact we've been using it and it has been effective," BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles told "Good Morning America" today. "It's making a difference in this fight to try and keep this stuff from coming to shore."

...

If the 72-hour window passes without a suitable alternative found, the EPA will demand BP prove it investigated a number of alternatives and explain why they were not chosen, according to Thursday's statement. Beyond that, the EPA would not comment on consequences of a missed deadline.

...

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/epa-bp-dispers ... d=10711367

[Ben D]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10139730.stm

US oil spill: BP 'recovering less oil' than estimated

Page last updated at 21:13 GMT, Friday, 21 May 2010 22:13 UK

BP has said the amount of oil recovered from a leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well on Thursday was less than half an earlier estimate.

BP said it had siphoned 2,200 barrels in the 24-hour period to midnight on Thursday, down from an estimate of 5,000 barrels earlier in the day.

[justdrew]

these arrogant BP execs need to start dying, I don't know who's going to do it, but it's high time they start loosing some heads. I can't believe they're going to continue pumping that toxic fucking dispersant. fuck this shit.

when plenty of a better alternative is readily available. unbelievable assholes. rid this earth of these scum

[Squatterman]

Just paid my first visit to BP.com. Saw this -

http://bp.concerts.com/gom/oysters_16052010.htm

My first alarm went off when the spill (you know the epic environmental disaster set to eclipse all others) was labeled a LEAK. See, I thought a leak was more like when it takes 3 months to notice I'm losing a little transmission fluid on the asphalt. So this must not be that bad after all folks - move along, now.

Then they found Their Man -

"I think BP has responded aggressively, appropriately, and on point. I personally am saddened that BP is getting a black eye from this, because they have been a good player in terms of the environment here in South Louisiana." - Mike Voisin (family has been in the seafood business in Lousiana for "200+ years)

[chiggerbit]

I'm curious. Does anyone have some kind of graph that shows from week to week how this new spill compares to Exxon Valdez?

Wiki on Valdez spill:

10.8 million US gallons (40.9 million litres, or 250,000 barrels) of crude oil

[ninakat]

[2012 Countdown]

ninakat, thanks for posting. I hope this goes VIRAL.
Garland Robinnette is a good guy.

[barracuda]

spill-graph.gif

Here's a quick graph I made from the available info on wiki. The bars are in millions of barrels. The Deepwater Horizon bar is represented as the industry estimate (~150,000 barrels) in dark grey, and the probable actual amount (1 million barrels) in light grey. Deepwater has almost surely already surpassed the Exxon Valdez disaster in scale.

[justdrew]

so many things could have been done, why, if this country even had a clue we could have had a plan ready to go, but no... It's pathetic, this shamefully incompetent country deserves to go down hard... and then stay down. I hope Louisiana secedes and blocks the Mississippi river among other things. The rampant cluelessness, uselessness and clusterfuckery on display here is beyond belief. and in "this great nation" only kevin fucking costner has the brains to build a machine to improve on this basic suck it up into supertankers method... unbelievable. A nation of overgrown babies. Of course... in this spills case it won't be so easy as the oil is spread throughout the water column, not just on top, but it couldn't hurt to pick up what has surfaced already...

The Secret, 700-Million-Gallon Oil Fix That Worked — and Might Save the Gulf

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/gulf-oil-spill-supertankers-051310#ixzz0od3dRY2g

Engineer Nick Pozzi has a simple solution to the massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast: use empty supertankers to suck up the oil. He says he knows it will work - because it did the last time this happened.

Pozzi claims that he used the so-called "suck-and-salvage" technique numerous times during his two decades working with oil companies in the Middle East. He says he first developed the method while working for the Saudi company Aramco to control a massive 800 million gallon oil spill in 1993 and 1994. (The spill, which at roughly twenty million barrels is about twice as bad as any other oil spill in history, was not reported at the time, likely due to the secrecy of the Saudi government and its state-owned oil company.)

After attempts to use absorbent materials like flour and straw to suck up the oil proved unsuccessful, Pozzi says he used the fleet of nearby supertankers to sail near the slick and suck up the oil into their tanks. The oil was then taken back to shore and dealt with without further endangering the ecological balance of the Arabian Gulf. Pozzi estimates that it took about six months for the tankers to get all the oil, although further cleanup operations in the Gulf took almost a decade to complete. Pozzi estimates about 85% of the leaked oil was ultimately recovered.

So could such a solution work now? Pozzi is obviously bullish about the scheme, and other experts have cautiously stated they think the plan could well succeed. The main issues are where to get the tankers needed and how to pay for them once we've got them. Pozzi says there are upwards of twenty-five tankers sitting idle in the ocean at any one time, waiting for orders. These tankers could sail to Texas, dump their full supply of oil in hold tanks onshore, and then head out to the slick. Alternately, the Saudi government could lend some of its tankers to the US, and Pozzi says he has the contacts in place to get that sorted out within days.

These tankers could be at the slick and ready to go in less than seventy-two hours, but cost is still a huge concern. This would be a massively expensive solution to the problem, and part of the reason this worked so well in 1993 and 1994 was that Aramco had pretty much unlimited funds to deal with the spill. Without a clear idea of who would pay for the tankers or even an obvious command structure to submit ideas, Pozzi says he remains stonewalled in his efforts to help. He and his business partner, Houston lawyer John King, have officially submitted their proposal to British Petroleum and Coast Guard commander Captain Ed Stanton.

[chiggerbit]

cuda said:

Here's a quick graph I made from the available info on wiki. The bars are in millions of barrels. The Deepwater Horizon bar is represented as the industry estimate (~150,000 barrels) in dark grey, and the probable actual amount (1 million barrels) in light grey. Deepwater has almost surely already surpassed the Exxon Valdez disaster in scale.

Wow, thanks, cuda. And this could go on for how long?